Fine art workshop week 4; painting in the style of Pablo Picasso

  Being the final week of the Fine Art workshop, We did a self study based on Pablo Picasso's work.

Picasso was a Spanish Cubist, more famous for his studies of his mistresses. One of Picasso's most famous pieces was 'The Weeping Woman, 1937' Which showed, as it says a weeping woman, from different profiles, all blended together. This piece was one of our main focuses of the lesson, and were asked to produce a self portrait based on this painting, and the rest of Picasso's work.

 

The way we came about producing this was by looking at ourselves through Funhouse mirrors and smashed mirrors, which were then stuck back together. I chose to use the funhouse mirrors as I liked the way it contortioned my face compared to the other. I began by turning the mirror around in different ways to get different shapes, and drew down what looked most interesting to me, I also looked at the different profiles of my face (side and front), and drew down exactly what I could see. The aim of this was to try and not think  too much into what I was doing, proportion still mattering but not as much as it would if I were to draw my portrait normally. From drawing in this style I have noticed Picasso painted this way to show emotion clearly; Through a cubist portrait you can really capture emotion from all angles.

 

After drawing out my design, I used watercolours to paint. I used watercolour because it is softer than acrylic, and I wanted to be able to blend everything together without there being any harsh lines. I stuck to quite neutral, Autumnal colours, using brown for my background because it is soft and I didn't want any attention being paid to it. I used a brighter blue for the irises so they stood out. After painting I used a fine liner to finishing outlining any areas, particularly the eye area, and around the clothes. Here I did use harsh lines unlike the face, as I wanted a contrast. I really like the way it turned out, I feel I managed to show myself through different perspectives, however I feel some areas are a little flat so to improve I could add in some darker shades, or maybe blend in some pastel so the effect is still quite soft.